History of Chinese rug making

The entrance of Buddhism into China during the first century of our era, the great flood of new thought brought about changes in existing ornament, and developed much that was entirely new, making the second period in the styles in Chinese ornament.

With Buddhism came the decorative impulse, and though the new cult seized much that it found ready for its adoption, it also added new ideas that were easily grafted upon the native stock ; and whether or not some of the features ordinarily claimed to be Buddhist antedated the Christian era, it is true that the designs created by Buddhism are different from those of the earlier period.